Surgical fasteners are known to be an alternative to traditional suturing techniques for procedures involving tissue closure, connection, or repair. One undesirable aspect of manual suturing is that the suturing process adds time to the overall surgical process. Moreover, manual suturing often requires that the operative area is readily accessible so that the medical practitioner can manipulate the suture and associated needle through both sides of the tissue, connection or repair site. Presently, surgical fasteners are known to provide a means to close an open surgical incision or wound, hold together pieces of soft tissue, attach devices to tissue, or repair torn tissue in orthopedic/musculoskeletal applications. Such surgical fasteners are often used where there is adequate access to the operative area, or for invasive, open procedures.
Due to the inherent risks and complexities of invasive surgical procedures, there is an increasing need for the ability to perform surgical procedures in a minimally invasive manner. In most cases, the recuperative time and lowered expense of a minimally invasive procedure makes it a far more desirable option to an alternative comparable invasive/open surgical procedure. The use of surgical fasteners in minimally invasive procedures may be desirable to increase the speed and efficiency of the procedure. Such fasteners may also open the possibility of performing a minimally invasive procedure for what was previously limited to an open surgical procedure.
In addition, suturing techniques requires considerable skill and dexterity especially when tying knots in the suture or otherwise manipulating the suture. The ability of a medical practitioner to manipulate a suture as well as knot the ends of the suture are further complicated when the site is not directly accessible to the practitioner. In such cases, even if the complexity of suturing does not prevent the procedure from being completed in a minimally invasive manner, the length of the procedure is likely to increase.
Conventional fasteners do not easily lend themselves for use in minimally invasive surgical procedure. As one example, the complexity of the known fastener-delivery devices requires devices with large profiles and limited flexibility further thereby limiting the potential for such devices to access remote locations. Conventional surgical fasteners, especially, “I-shaped” or “H-shaped” fasteners are unsuitable for remote procedures due to their complex deployment mechanisms and inability to navigate tortuous pathways using access devices commonly used for minimally invasive procedures (e.g., catheters, introducer devices, scope-type devices such as endoscopes, bronchoscopes, colonoscopies, etc.). Examples of such fasteners and devices are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,747 to Kronenthal et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,238 to Ogiu et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,473 to Richards et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,439 to Kammerer et al,. U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,753 to Meislin, and U.S. Patent Publications US2003/0097148 to Valimaa et al, U.S. 2003/0187465 to Bailly et al. Each of the foregoing patents and/or patent applications is hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.